JetBlue is bluffin' with their muffin about expanding to Europe
I've been hopeful yet extremely suspicious about JetBlue's long-rumored expansion to Europe, and it appears I'm not the only one. Lucky and the Wandering Aramean are both calling out JetBlue for their continuing indecision about converting their A321neo orders to the long-range LR version of the aircraft. JetBlue has been teasing this decision since mid-2016 and even if they decided tomorrow to go with the LRs, it still means that any potential European flights wouldn't happen until at least 2021 or later.
On a personal note, we'd been sorta stockpiling the JetBlue points hoping that there'd be some great introductory offers on transatlantic service, but we gave up on them early in 2018 and spent 100,000-ish of our TrueBlue family pool balance. JetBlue has been slowly, quietly devaluing their points and it doesn't make sense to hold them for something that might never come.
Instead of enabling transatlantic service, the LRs could also potentially end up on JFK routes to Central and South America that currently require a stopover in JetBlue's Fort Lauderdale (FLL) hub. They could also be used to enable flights from FLL to deep South America.
Furthermore, if you look at the commentary from JetBlue insiders on Flyertalk, nearly all of them think JetBlue's management is far too conservative to allow such a bold move into a space where Primera, WOW, and Norwegian airlines are all currently going bankrupt. JetBlue's board seems vastly more interested in penny-pinching their existing business with baggage fees, Basic Economy, and shoving 12 more seats into their old planes than they are with bold new routes.
Honestly, given this kind of toxic corporate culture, it wouldn't surprise me if the next "big" thing they do is merge with Alaska Airlines to further reduce competition and increase prices and profitability.
I guess our only real hope for something exciting and new is the codename-Moxy airline that JetBlue's founder is starting with a fleet of A220s.
On a personal note, we'd been sorta stockpiling the JetBlue points hoping that there'd be some great introductory offers on transatlantic service, but we gave up on them early in 2018 and spent 100,000-ish of our TrueBlue family pool balance. JetBlue has been slowly, quietly devaluing their points and it doesn't make sense to hold them for something that might never come.
Instead of enabling transatlantic service, the LRs could also potentially end up on JFK routes to Central and South America that currently require a stopover in JetBlue's Fort Lauderdale (FLL) hub. They could also be used to enable flights from FLL to deep South America.
Furthermore, if you look at the commentary from JetBlue insiders on Flyertalk, nearly all of them think JetBlue's management is far too conservative to allow such a bold move into a space where Primera, WOW, and Norwegian airlines are all currently going bankrupt. JetBlue's board seems vastly more interested in penny-pinching their existing business with baggage fees, Basic Economy, and shoving 12 more seats into their old planes than they are with bold new routes.
Honestly, given this kind of toxic corporate culture, it wouldn't surprise me if the next "big" thing they do is merge with Alaska Airlines to further reduce competition and increase prices and profitability.
I guess our only real hope for something exciting and new is the codename-Moxy airline that JetBlue's founder is starting with a fleet of A220s.
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